


The Image of Grace

by WithPatienceComesPeace



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Drama, Duscur (Fire Emblem), Emotional, Gen, Mystery, Tragedy of Duscur (Fire Emblem)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27865018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithPatienceComesPeace/pseuds/WithPatienceComesPeace
Summary: Lord Lonato and Rhea face off about Christophe and the fact that the Officer’s Academy is employing a math professor from Duscur.(Occurs before Student Orientation at the Officer's Academy.)An excerpt fromThe Lion and the Lotus.
Kudos: 10
Collections: Excerpts from The Lion and The Lotus





	The Image of Grace

**Author's Note:**

> Excerpt of an intense scene from [The Lion and the Lotus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672283/chapters/67717684). 
> 
> Context: Professor Parvati is a math professor from Duscur. Byleth will go Black Eagles route.

Professors Parvati and Manuela walked across the Great Bridge, the Divine Songstress dragging the ghost of Parvati’s dignity by the arm into the holy space.

Parvati forgot how grand this place was. The voice of the choir rang up into the lofty heights, then swirled back down into every inch of space here, carrying with it a hum of prayers so thick she could breathing them. She felt like any words she might want to say to Manuela would be buoyed up like a bird on a thermal lift, to the stained glass Goddess upon the ceiling. A benevolent Sothis marveled down, the light of the world passing down through her in yellows and blues and greens. …

“That’s the uniform!” said the opera diva.

She was pointing to a boy who had his head bowed in prayer. He was mouthing words into his clasped hands, half his ash-gray hair looking blue in the light of the stained glass Goddess.

“He must be a student!” said Manuela. “Let’s go talk to him!” She started heading his way.

Parvati froze. Was it too late to hide? If Manuela turned around, she would definitely call to her. But if Parvati ditched her now, she would never hear the end of that either. Parvati sighed and slinked after the click of Manuela’s heels.

Parvati picked out the words “Ashe?” and “Blue Lions!” by the time she joined them. The boy directed Parvati a curious look, and gave a smile that reached his green eyes and pushed out his freckled cheeks.

“You may have once taught Christophe,” he was saying to Manuela. “He is my older brother. He was at the Officer’s Academy ten years ago.”

Manuela blinked at him. “Do I look old enough to have been teaching here ten years ago?”

The poor boy started. He said, “N-No?”

“Well, good, because I’m _not_ ,” Manuela insisted. “This is Professor Parvati.”

Ashe bowed. “Hi, Professor Parvati! I’m Ashe. Ubert. From House Gaspard.”

 _Gaspard!_ thought Parvati. It took her to a time in the past.

The card in her hand: _Gaspard, Christophe._ The smell of tobacco. A blackboard with a hundred cards on it. Names of people, places. Yellow yarn connecting them. Terms like: _Duscur, Tragedy; Lambert, Assassination._ It was all a math proof, a puzzle. It was something she would solve. But the tobacco smoke was piling thick. It was making her cough. She turned to snap at that grad student. “Open the window, Christophe!”

 _Christophe._ That was the name of that math graduate student. Not her assistant. Her advisor’s assistant. That was why she remembered the card that said _Gaspard, Christophe_ on it. They had the same name.

Not just that. There was another reason. There was something different about this card. This card had something on it that none of the other cards had: _Date of Execution_.

Date of Execution. Christophe Gaspard was the only Faerghusi personage to have been executed…for his involvement in the Tragedy.

The Tragedy of Duscur. The thing that killed her parents.

Someone else called out to Ashe now. A low voice, a gruff one. Parvati snapped back into the real world. She felt the hair on her arms rise up. She was coming to realize…that she was about to meet with someone else who would need no introduction. His name had been on her cards before.

She turned to face him.

_Gaspard, Lonato._

“Ashe.” Lord Lonato did not wait for Ashe to finish turning before he sent a backhand across the boy’s face.

Manuela and Parvati cried out.

He said to the boy, “What did I tell you?”

Ashe had his two hands stacked one over the other on his left cheek. His swimming eyes did not stray from Lonato’s.

“I said, what did I tell you?”

“You said don’t talk to them.”

“And what did you do?”

Manuela stepped forward. “Excuse me. I happen to be a Professor at the Officer’s Academy. He _is_ going to be a student, isn’t he? Then I would imagine he _should_ be talking to professors.”

Lord Lonato turned to her. “A professor? I apologize. It is regrettable that you had to see that.”

Manuela falters. “I don’t understand.”

Parvati did, however. And it finally struck Manuela what Lonato had meant when the man’s eyes strayed to Parvati next.

 _Don’t talk to them_ hadn’t meant her and Manuela. Don’t talk to them meant don’t talk to _her_ — to Parvati. To the woman of Duscur.

“He didn’t start the conversation,” said Parvati, deadpan. “We started it.”

“Do not defend him, little lady,” said Lonato gently, “for I fear _you_ will be the one who gets the boy killed.”

Parvati’s jaw dropped. “Wh - _What_?” That made _no_ sense. Her? Parvati? Getting his child _killed_? What the _hell_ did he think she would be doing?

The soothing voice of the Archbishop interrupted her thoughts. “Lord Lonato.” The Archbishop had come to stand beside Parvati. On her other side was a red-haired knight who stood mum.

Parvati and Manuela bowed. In the distance, the voice of the choir swooned and lulled. Lonato’s eyes lingered on the knight beside her before resting on the Archbishop. “Archbishop,” he said.

“You had arrived,” she said, “and yet you did not grant me the comforts of your company?”

Lonato regarded her, seemingly calculating what to say as his hand reached behind him and pulled Ashe closer.

It was a motion the Archbishop did not miss. “Lord Lonato…your apprehension stings.” She looked at Ashe and said, “He will not be waylaid. I will care for and guide him personally. You have nothing to fear, milord.”

Lonato said, “I have everything to fear.” He looked at Parvati, as did Ashe. “This woman, what is she doing here?”

Rhea looked at her. “She is a Professor at the Academy. Parvati, greet him.”

Parvati felt like she was a child, being told by a mother to say hi. But because she wanted to do things the easy way so she could get away as swiftly as possible, she obediently bowed her head.

Lonato looked back at the Archbishop. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Lord Lonato?”

Lonato said, “I lost one son because for his Duscuri consort. Now you deem this one okay?”

Parvati blinked. Christophe had been in love with someone from Duscur?

Lady Rhea said, “The Church is very purposeful in the people we choose to employ, Lonato.”

A vein throbbed in Lonato’s temple. “You are, as ever, the image of grace, Archbishop,” he said, “and an astonishing calm. Is this what you looked like, the night you ordered for Christophe’s execution?”

The voice of the choir came to a sudden stop. Manuela gasped. Parvati felt like she had been punched in the chest. All of her breath was thrown out of her.

Archbishop Rhea gave him a dark look. “Your son was executed for the crimes that he committed, not for whom he associated with.”

 _Oh great. At least the Archbishop’s not racist, right?_ thought Parvati. Her mind was reeling. The Archbishop had ordered the execution of Christophe? She knew the Church had executed him, but it never occurred to her — that she had _met_ the person who had given that command, and that in fact, Parvati was standing right next to her. She was close enough for the Archbishop’s cape to be _touching_ her left arm right now. Parvati’s skin erupted in goosebumps.

“For what it is worth,” said Rhea, “allow me express my condolences. I would have had it any other way.”

“Then why couldn’t you think of one?” Lonato said through a thick voice and gritted teeth. His eyes sparkled through a film of water. Behind him, two rivers ran silently down Ashe’s face.

“Because he did not give one to me,” said Lady Rhea. With this, she bowed and said, “Gilbert, let us go.” She led the knight away with her.

Parvati didn’t know why she kept standing there, like her legs were carved out from the floor. Lord Lonato set his jaw and looked back at her. He said, “I am sorry to have to ask you this. But you’ve already taken my firstborn son. Don’t take this one.”

Parvati scoffed. She looked at Ashe, who matched her glance before walking away, led away by Lonato by the shoulder.

Manuela looked at her. “What was _that_?” she said.

Parvati shook her head. “That’s not going to be the last time.”

“I don’t envy you,” said Manuela. “I’d _heard_ of how the people of Duscur are treated by the Fearghusi, but…I had no idea… I thought originally what he meant by _them_ was proletarians.”

Parvati chuckled bitterly. “Oh. Yes. That.” …

Manuela kept looking at her, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“I have no other choice than to be.”

Manuela frowned. “That’s not true. You shouldn’t have to stand for such abuse.” She surveyed the people swirling around them, saying, “But I understand… That was a little bit what the opera was like. For as long as you’re the diva, you are a goddess. You are a star. But when you stop… We are only valuable as accessories to the nobles. When you are not an accessory, they remind you…” She frowned. “Though I can’t help it. The _gall_ of that woman, expressing _condolences_ …"

Parvati checked if Rhea was around. “I have a bad feeling, Manuela.”

Manuela nodded. “I do too.”

**Author's Note:**

> More drama about Ashe and Lonato, and justice for Christophe in [The Lion and the Lotus](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672283/chapters/67717684)!


End file.
